Results 181-200 of 14,473 for speaker:Dara Calleary

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Programmes (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The current LEADER Programme runs to 2027 and is now up and running across the country. It supports a broad range of enterprises and community groups to develop projects which improve the quality of life and economic activity in rural areas. It is delivered through Local Action Groups across rural Ireland. The monitoring framework for the LEADER programme is underpinned by the themes and...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Programmes (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The LEADER Programme supports a broad range of enterprises and community groups to develop projects which improve the quality of life and economic activity in rural areas. It is delivered through Local Action Groups across rural Ireland, facilitating a community-led, bottom-up approach to rural development. The LEADER programme is a multi-annual programme, with the current programme...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Programmes (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Department strives to ensure that programmes under its remit are operating effectively and efficiently, which includes the undertaking of independent evaluations. In 2021, the Department sought an independent review of LEADER delivery models for the 2014-2020 LEADER Programme. The overall aim of the review exercise was to gauge the effectiveness of the 2014-2020 LEADER programme and...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Programmes (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The current LEADER Programme runs to 2027 and is now up and running across the country. It supports a broad range of enterprises and community groups to develop projects which improve the quality of life and economic activity in rural areas. It is delivered through Local Action Groups (LAGs) across rural Ireland, facilitating a community-led, bottom-up approach to rural development. The...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Programmes (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP), is our country’s primary social inclusion programme, which aims to reduce poverty and promote social inclusion and equality by supporting disadvantaged communities and individuals. This is a national programme that is delivered in both rural and urban areas by Local Development Companies (LDCs) to help those in the...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Programmes (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP), is our country’s primary social inclusion intervention. This is a national programme that is delivered in both rural and urban areas by Local Development Companies to help those in the greatest need. SICAP aims to address high and persistent levels of deprivation through targeted and innovative, locally-led approaches. ...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Programmes (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP), is our country’s primary social inclusion intervention. This is a national programme that is delivered in both rural and urban areas by Local Development Companies to help those in the greatest need. SICAP has 2 programme goals. Goal one is supporting communities, which involves supporting local community groups...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Programmes (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP), is our country’s primary social inclusion programme, which aims to reduce poverty and promote social inclusion and equality by supporting disadvantaged communities and individuals. It is national programme that is delivered in both rural and urban areas by Local Development Companies (LDCs) to help those in the greatest...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Schemes (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: I propose to take Questions Nos. 395 to 398, inclusive, together. The Local Improvement Scheme (LIS) supports improving rural roads and laneways that are not usually maintained by local authorities. Since its establishment in 2017, the government has provided almost €170 million to local authorities for LIS. While the Department provides funding for LIS, the scheme is administered...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Strategies (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: I propose to take Questions Nos. 399 to 402, inclusive, together. Our Rural Future was published in 2021 and, over its five-year lifespan, has provided significant investment and supports, strengthened local economies and improved the lives of many people in rural communities across Ireland. My Department’s Rural Development Investment Programme continues support the objectives of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (30 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Social Welfare Appeals Office is an Office of the Department of Social Protection which is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements. Appeals Officers are independent in their decision making functions. I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that an Appeals Officer, having fully considered all of the available evidence,...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Projects (30 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Department of Social Protection receives EU Funding under the following EU programmes. The current programme is the European Social Fund Plus Employment, Inclusion, Skills and Training Programme (ESF+EIST 2021-2027) which is a cross-Government programme managed by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research Innovation and Science. The Department has four schemes within...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Staff (30 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: Overpayments of social welfare assistance and benefit payments arise because of decisions made under the relevant sections of the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act, 2005 (as amended). Customers who have been overpaid social welfare have a liability to refund the overpayment as they have been in receipt of a payment to which they were not entitled. The Department has a central debt unit...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Staff (30 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: The delivery of vital locally based Community Welfare Services (CWS) to meet the challenges and the needs of citizens across the country is a priority for me and for my Department. The Community Welfare Service provides a flexible service to meet the different needs of people, who may find themselves in a financially difficult or vulnerable situation. It is a priority that this service is...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Strategies (30 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: A national Youth Homelessness Strategy was published in November 2022 and aims to help young people aged 18 - 24 years who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. My department is represented on the Youth Homelessness Strategy Steering Group and is responsible for delivering on Action 25 of the Youth Homelessness Strategy. This action is to “Review work experience, placements,...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (30 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: Under the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme, my department may make Additional Needs Payments to help meet essential expenses that a person cannot pay from their weekly income or other personal and household resources. This is an overarching term used to refer to exceptional and urgent needs payments, and certain supplements. The scheme is demand led and payments are made at the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (30 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Programme for Government commits to examining the introduction of a Pay Related Carer’s Benefit for individuals who have to give up work suddenly in order to provide full-time care. In terms of roll-out of Pay-Related Benefits, the Programme for Government also contains a commitment to introduce a Pay-Related Parent’s Benefit. The new Jobseeker's Pay-Related Benefit...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (30 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: The person concerned reached pension age on 15 January 2025. To be eligible for the standard state pension (contributory) an individual must have at least 520 full-rate contributions. To qualify for a mixed insurance pension, 520 employment contributions are required, of which at least 260 must be full-rate contributions with the remainder made up of modified contributions. The...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (30 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Humanitarian Assistance Scheme (HAS), administered by my department through the Community Welfare Service (CWS), was activated on 23 January 2025 to assist householders affected across the country by Storm Éowyn. According to the records of the Department, the person concerned applied for a HAS stage 1 payment to assist with the additional costs incurred as a result of Storm...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Rural Schemes (30 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: The CLÁR programme is a targeted investment programme that provides funding for small scale infrastructural projects in designated rural areas. Since 2017, almost €1.6 million has been awarded in County Meath for some 43 CLÁR projects . The attached table outlines the projects approved and the amount of CLÁR funding awarded to those projects in Co Meath from 2023 to...